Cry Baby Bridge

Perhaps the most viral of all urban legends is the “Cry Baby Bridge.” It’s more than just a few here and a few there. According to ghost writer Chris Woodyard, there is at least one haunted bridge story for each Ohio County, some with more. Indeed, Ohio has more bridges that any other state in the US. There is a website devoted to some of the most famous cry baby bridges throughout the state. http://www.deadohio.com/CrybabyBridges.htm

Closer to Cincinnati than many cry baby bridge legends is Maude Hughes Road in West Chester, Ohio. The bridge passes 25 feet high over a railroad line. While there is a completely logical explanation for the sound of crying being heard near the bridge, people tend to ignore that and create their own stories. According to C.R.A.P.S., a tri-state urban legend investigation team, the original bridge had grooves in it that sounded like someone screaming when a vehicle drove over it.

But, again, people tend to ignore these details and instead create elaborate stories to scare people with. As far as the bridge goes, the rumors have gone from a man being killed by an exploding locomotive, to a women being shoved over while in an argument with her boyfriend.

The second most popular story is that of a newborn baby being tossed over the bridge by her mother followed by the hanging herself. Who would make that up? Some people just have sick minds.

The main surviving legend with the bridge is as follows: Years ago a guy and girl’s car stalled on top of the bridge. The dude got out to get help while the chick stayed. I’ll give you one guess as to what happened with the guy came back to the car. Yup, the girl was dead. She was hanging on the bridge above the tracks. Pretty original, eh? The man then died soon after with unexplained causes. To this day, many people say if you go to the bridge you can hear the ghosts’ conversations, then a woman’s scream followed by a man’s scream.

I read C.R.A.P.S. investigation of the bridge and according to their website, there are 36 accounts of people dying on or around the bridge.

Google can find a cry baby bridge for every state in the U.S. It may be the single most copied ghost story of all time. It’s an infectious urban myth that seems to take on the snowball effect, especially in the state with more bridges than any other state.

But of all the people I talked to who went there, none of them heard or saw anything, myself included.